Friendly Laughter.

Its funny but true, the very first passenger that I fetch always determine what kind of day I will be getting into. There are the good, the bad and the ugly.
Almost all passengers I get are the good but last week, I fetched a very delightful and bubbly lady passenger whom I picked up at the Lucky Plaza taxi stand and she wanted to go to Pasir Ris St.11. She was different, I was totally entertained by her with her continuous wit and humour which kept me laughing all the way to her destination. She was a very happy person, she made my day. How I wish I can have the same with at least one commuter a day.
I try my best everyday to make every passenger laugh, chuckle and giggle and smile a bit by engaging them in friendly interesting conversations and you will be surprised, almost all will respond in the same way telling me even more livelier anecdotes, their lifestyles, experiences good, bad and sad stories, what kind of day they had and what will come next for tomorrow.
Once they open up, we chat as if we have been friends for ages. I have always enjoyed friendly gestures, laughter and chit chats with people from all over the world for we are brothers and sisters no matter what we are, who we are or where we come from.

"Saviour"

"Uncle, you are our saviour!" exclaimed one of the two young and pretty lady passengers as they boarded my taxi along Ubi Ave 1 to go to Downtown East in Pasir Ris late last night.
A "saviour"? I asked.
"Yes, we have been anxiously waiting for a taxi and there you are!" was the happy reply. This started a pleasant chit-chat between us with lots of laughter all the way till we reached their destination.
For a moment I thought, yes, indeed I have been saving many, many passengers from having to wait a much longer time, getting them to their workplace in time, getting them to keep their appointments and interviews in time and also rushing them to cinema theatres in time. Yes, yes, that's what I must have been doing all along without realizing that I, just an ordinary taxi-driver is indirectly also a 'Saviour',
Wowie! Its simply fantastic to be bestowed with such a wonderful 'title'. How often can one immediately engage in conversations with total strangers and enjoy chatting, laughing with them as if we had known each other for ages and on top of that, whilst we continue working? Not many occupations available I believe, except for work such as mine I think. After work, I always feel a sense of satisfaction for being able to provide a safe and pleasant journey together with 'unexpected' happy thoughts.
Hmmm......a Saviour.

Stop dreaming, just do it.

Driving a taxi everyday, I get to meet up with all kinds of passengers. For instance, late last night, about 11pm, this passenger of mine, age maybe in his mid twenties boarded my cab from Jurong West St. 81 and he wanted to go to Pasir Ris Drive 6, I mean that is a long trip and also just before midnight. Along the way, we started chit chatting, about this and that and in general. I asked him what he was doing at present and he told me that he had just started working for his friend helping him to sell used laptops. He said it has been 3 months already and he was heading nowhere, as his income was based on commissions, and sales was hard to come by with him not having much experience in door to door sales. He was indeed in great despair. 
"Uncle, I don't know what will become of me, I don't even know what my future will be" 
He studied at a local school till Sec 4 and had already done his NS* duties. I asked him what he would really like to be and he replied, 
"You know, I always dreamt of becoming a hairstylist" 
"That is interesting, have you tried applying for a job in that area?" 
"Still looking" 
"Young man, look here, stop dreaming, it will do you no good. If you really want to be a hairstylist, first of all go and take up a course in Hairstyling then after that go look for a job in that direction aggressively, in other words, look for a job as anything in any Hairstylist establishment and be persistent and accept whatever work assigned to you, be hardworking, humble, helpful to all and learn well whatever you are taught in all aspects of the trade. You will of course suffer in the beginning, but bear with it and at the end of the day, you will eventually succeed." 
"That's good advice and I think I will give it a go" 
"Good! don't just give it a go, do it straightaway." 
With that conversation and a lot of small talk like 'have you a girlfriend, do you socialise a lot, favourite hobbies and so on'... 
"Uncle, not yet lah, not much money how to go clubbing, only most of my free time play computer games." 
We finally arrived at his residence. His fare was 20 something dollars but I said "Just give me $20/- will do." 
"Sure ah! thank you Uncle, thank you." 
"Don't mention, you just take care and remember to look at life through the windscreen, not the rear view mirror, good night." 
After that drive and long chat I began looking for the nearest coffee shop............


*NS: National Service - compulsory for all male Singapore citizens